THE CONSTITUTION:BY FWAMBA NC FWAMBA

LEADERS SHOULD NOT ABUSE THE ROLE OF THE CONSTITUTION In his speech after the failed april 2002 coup attempt against him,President hugo chavez of the bolivarian republic of venezuela compared the country's constitution to the book of the mayas;the Popol Vuh which is described in the wikipedia free online dictionary as thus:The Popol Vuh (Quiché for "Council Book" or "Book of the Community"; Popol Wuj in modern spelling) is the book of scripture of the Quiché, a kingdom of the post classic Maya civilization in highland Guatemala. .Hugo used this example to contextualise the importance of this document to the campesinos.The Mayas have great respect for the Popol Vuh because its regarded as the writing entailing the cradle of the Maya people of Southern America.The book is a unifying factor amongst these people and to them it symbolises unity,equality and brotherhood.According to President Hugo and I too agree with him,the purpose of the consitution is to unify a people while providing equal rights and equal application of the law to every subject of the respective country.Thus Kenyans too should rise up to the occassion to understand the role of the constitution and make sure that as we advocate for reforms whether radical or minimal,we end up with a document that is synonymous to the welfare of every Kenyan regardless of tribe,political affiliation,gender or race. Its very unfortunate in kenya that the constitution and the constitution review crusade has been reduced to a document meant for a hide and seek within the political circles for a small number of politicians with selfish ambitions and undisclosed intentions that do not necessarily reflect the true wishes of Kenyan people at the grassroots. As kenyans brace for general elections,democracy as a way of governance through majority support has pushed a number of leaders to develop strategies that can make them relevant to play national politics or create opportunities to win them parliamentary seats. its so unfortunate that instead of leaders formulating methods of making sure that kenyans rid themselves of tribalism,poverty and endless oppression to attain equal rights and access to justice,they have instead turned out to use this as their main weapon of being politically relevant to use people at the grassroots as bargaining chips for power.This is all through hypocricy and false promises.As the world moves towards greater levels of civilization,its prudent that even the kenyan leaders wake up to this reality and stop divisive politics based on tribalism.The reality of this game is that the tribal sentiments used by leaders to get political sympathy from their kinsmen are only used as most opportunistic fall back plans when such leaders are unable to gain support from their people by having worthy ideas.With such crop of leaders it will be very difficult to realise any form of national unity in Kenya.At this rate as long as we are allowing such people to be elected into public offices,tribalism,nepotism and even racism will never cease. When you see them talking about the constitution,they only focus on political leadership and how''one of their own'' can get it;thus they want the constitution to be made in such a way that at least a person of such and such tribe is included within the national political leadership. The main role of leaders at this stage in Kenya is to promote national unity through advocating for policies that ensure national and individual citizen development without any form of descrimination.If they are sincere,then they should agitate for a constitution that ensures freedom justice and equality for every citizen instead of singing the constitution of ''one of our own''. It is the greatest time that politicians advocated for formulation of a constitution that addresses such issues as workers' rights,farmers,and other common folks of this nation.Many issues in this country are downplayed just because most of our leaders are only focussing on their personal interests than the interests of their electorate.Its a well known fact that many Kenyan workers are languishing in despair and mental torture and even illegal confinements at their work places and no-one ,even the Ministry of Labour or COTU national officials is ready to pursue this matter seriously.An example is the Libra house disaster where lives were lost because people had been locked inside the building.I have personally established that such a trend is very common in most manufacturing companies at the industrial area.It is also public knowledge that such companies suppress workers who are therefore not allowed to have unions to defend their rights.If such employees demand or attempt forming unions or joining they risk loosing their jobs.I have also heard where a casual labourer was assaulted physically by his employer.Due to the scare of loosing his source of livelihood,he couldnt launch any formal complaints to relevant authorities.This is serious neo-colonialism and 21st century slavery going on in this country and yet leaders in different sectors are only concerned about their selfish interests which only translate to their election into big offices.Committed true nationalists should rise up and fight these evils through ensuring a strict law that protects the interests and rights of every kenyan equally regardless of his societal stature.There is need too for the government to initiate a radical enlightment programme about constitutional rights.The kenya human rights organisations have tried this but I stongly believe that more is yet to be done. As pro reform protagonists starategise to help Kenya realise a new constitution,I strongly believe that there is need too to enlighten Kenyans about the contents of the current constitution,the importance of the constitution and what is supposed to be changed.As President Hugo puts it,let the costitution be to us like the Popol Vuh is to the Mayas. Fwamba nc Fwamba +254721779445 BOX 41046,NAIROBI